The Songwriter Forum - songwriting reviews, tips and chat
Songwriter Forum => The Bar => Topic started by: Jess on February 15, 2014, 03:36:07 PM
-
I was listening to Africa by Toto the other day and I realised I'd just heard what could be the worst lyric of all time: Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I mean SERIOUSLY that just CANNOT be a lyric!?😂😂
Anyway, after that I've been really interested in laughing at 'bad' lyrics (the spice girls are another personal favourite), so I just wondered what your favourite worst lyrics were- which lyrics make your inner songwriter cringe?
-
Hahaha that's a good one Jess.
The one that always gets me is Maggie Mae by Rod Stewart:
You laughed at all of my jokes/ my love you didn't need to coax
I mean FOR THE LOVE OF GOD man this is unacceptable!
[edit]
OMG 2000th post alert! :o :D
-
Des'Ree wins. Everytime
I'm afraid of the dark
Especially when I'm in a park
And there's no one else around
Ooh, I get the shivers
I don't want to see a ghost
It's a sight that I fear most
I'd rather have a piece of toast
And watch the evening news
Lordy Lordy. So bad I want to hug her. Or slap her..
And congrats Mr Tone! ;D ;D
-
Gotta go with
Buying bread from a man in Brussles,
He was 6'4 and full of muscles,
I said 'Do you speak my language?'
He just smiled and gave me a veggie mite sandwich
Lethal song and one of my personal all time favs but these lyrics are absurd. Come to think of it the whole song is mental.... I guess my taste in music is as despicable as my lyric writing ;)
-
Not exactly classic lines from Mr McCartney.
I need a
Temporary secretary, temporary secretary,
Temporary secretary, temporary secretary.
Mister marks, could you send her quick,
'Cause my regular has been getting sick.
I need a
Temporary secretary, temporary secretary.
-
'I'm hot just like an oven
I need some lovin'
Oh we laugh but ... I bet Marvin Gaye ain't freezing his butt off in the Cotswolds!
-
Buying bread from a man in Brussles,
He was 6'4 and full of muscles,
I said 'Do you speak my language?'
He just smiled and gave me a veggie mite sandwich
THESE ARE EPIC! This song is fab!
Congrats tone! Although...I am catching you up ;D ;)
-
Germany wins for sure with "Da Da Da ich lieb dich nicht du liebst mich nicht aha aha aha" from the band Trio. ;D ;D
-
All the above are Ivor novello compared to the following lyrics......There were a few ;D ;D ;D
Hurry ( pointless lyrics )
in Lyrics
Hurry ( pointless lyrics ) by Saeed AlSuri
...
22/7/2013
verse
Sing a song along along and say ..
Sing a song along ...
...
Hurry .. Hurry .. I sing Hurry ..
Saeed AlSuri .. (c) 2013
Funny isn't it ... ...
-
"If I was a sculptor, but then again, no
Or a man who makes potions in a travelling show"
Well, at least you're not a lyricist.
Wait...
-
I was listening to Africa by Toto the other day and I realised I'd just heard what could be the worst lyric of all time: Sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti
I mean SERIOUSLY that just CANNOT be a lyric!?😂😂
Toto??? Jess!!!!! Don't diss Toto! ;D
Anyway, i bloomin love that lyric!
And Men at Work....how can you not love that whole song?!
Hmmmm actually i love quite a few of these bad lyrics.... Must say something about me.... :-[
-
How about this appalling couplet from John and Paul from She'a a woman
" My love don't give me presents, I know that she's no peasant"
???
Neil
-
Ha,ha,ha Although credited to Lennon & Mcartney That was pauls... Best way to figure who wrote what is by who sang it...
My ding a ling Chuck Berry Ha,ha,ha,ha ;D
-
BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR
...I mean...SERIOUSLY!?
-
'When you're finally finished feeling sorry for yourself, come on I'll give you a reason to feel sorry for yourself'
Nice one, Brian Fallon of TGA. He is usually much better than this, I swear.
-
BABY YOU CAN DRIVE MY CAR
...I mean...SERIOUSLY!?
That's not a bad lyric - you just need to read it in context. It's about ego & ambition.
I wanna be famous, a star of the screen, but you can do something in between...
Macca's not a lyrical genius I agree, but I don't think he deserves to be in the worst lyric thread :p
-
jess, im shocked and stunned..
'drive my cars' a classic..turn it right up..its a brilliant track
van halens 'why cant this be love' contains the line ..
' only time will tell if we stand the test of time'
i was into hard rock years ago and loved uriah heap, they were tremendous but not great lyricists tho at the time it was wisdom man..
'today is only yesterdays tomorrow'
-
Anything by Bring Me The Horizon. Throw in some lyrics that sound meaningful but are actually just rehashes of idioms or the obvious, and let the cash from teens 'discovering the world' roll in.
-
good thread we all have something to say on this
if I'm honest I've often wondered why we are so hard on each other
on our lyrics when we post then after all we are not pro's and I've always said
if you've made it I think you can do what you want
one lyric that makes me feel sick to the stomach is from the fat man who thought he was funny
in the young ones, it went, ALRIGHT JOHN GOT A NEW MOTOR
ALRIGHT JOHN GOT A NEW MOTOR
the whole of that was bad but there has been so many,
so lets not be so hard on each other on the forum
RANT OVER
OOOOOOH SORRY CHECK OUT THAT'S WHAT THE FOX SAYS
YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT,
NOW ITS OVER
-
Oh we could play this game all day. Lots but thus one from Jessie J springs to mind
I don't wanna be here anymore, I wanna be somewhere else
Normal and free like I used to be
But I have to stay in this big, white room
With little old me
It's not that I don't feel her pain, it's just I don't want to hear about it. Like this. In a song.
Let's do another 1000 and then a thread on favourite lines.
-
She wrote that when she was ten, in all fairness. She's usually at the better end of the scale when it comes to pop singers :P
-
I CAN TOP ALL. OF. YOU.
Michael Jackson Wanna Be Starting Something: Still They Hate You, You're A Vegetable, You're Just A Buffet, You're A Vegetable
:o ??? :o ??? :o ???
-
I love this thread so much.
I got a confession.... sometimes I deliberately try to write awful lyrics in verses because I think they can be commercial. 'Thrift shop' 'Tik Tok' etc... what many consider awful lyrics but massive smash hits. 'Land down under' which I quoted earlier in the thread is one of my favourite songs of all time and a global smash hit but the lyrics are that bad they are damn good. I think the difficulty is differentiating between 'bad' lyrics and those that are so far 'outside the box' they are actually genius.
-
I think the worst lyrics will be in german songs:D I'm from Germany and there are so many Lyrics where I think WTF Seriously? I hate german songs in generell because in german you can't say much in a cool way. when you write in english everything sounds cool ;)
-
Rammstein. Rammstein has never sounded cool ;)
-
I would say any of mine ;D
ziggy stardust
I love this song but......
Ziggy played for time, jiving us that we were voodoo
The kids were just crass, he was the nazz
With god given ass
He took it all too far but boy could he play guitar
or Zappa , Dynamo Hum
So I pulled on her hair
Got her legs in the air
An asked if she had any cooties on there :D :D
-
I forgot about Thin Lizzy and Jailbreak ,
Tonight there's gonna be a jailbreak
Somewhere in this town
I'll bet it's at the Jail ;D
-
Nicki Minaj lyrics make me want to vomit.
-
Nicki Minaj lyrics make me want to vomit.
Don't hold back there, snowman! :D ;) :p
-
Nicki Minaj lyrics make me want to vomit.
Don't hold back there, snowman! :D ;) :p
I'm serious though
"Hang it up, flat screen
Ha ha, plasma
Hey Nicki, hey Nicki, asthma
I got the pumps, it ain't got medicine
I got bars, Xenocine"
lulwat
-
I feel someone should mention the song of last summer...
"You want to hug me...WHAT RHYMES WITH HUG ME!?"
Which is actually really irritating because the answer could be a lot of things...
-
No JESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This line is actually my favourite lyric in that entire song. I think it is genius and even better it is delivered with unmistakable Thicke smarm!
-
Okay now he was close, tried to domesticate her.
But she left him (http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/02/25/robin-thicke-divorce-marriage_n_4854894.html).
-
I once wrote, "You stood there in your bikini...you looked a bit Japanini"
Never finished the song!!!
Terry.
-
I once wrote, "You stood there in your bikini...you looked a bit Japanini"
Never finished the song!!!
Terry.
I don't know why you didn't finish the song, it could have been a killer ;)
-
I once wrote, "You stood there in your bikini...you looked a bit Japanini"
Never finished the song!!!
Terry.
There is a song I heard here in bermuda in a club part of the chorus was:
"You're Easy Breezy and I'm Japaneesy" from EASY BREEZY - UTADA HIKARU
-
'Well it's a long dark road and there are landmines that explode' - Brian Fallon & Cincinnati Rail Tie
A great line in the song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2bWLC1FVvo), but on its own pretty hilarious.
-
No lyrics make me cringe, sorry.
A very good German lyricist is Bertolt Brecht.
-
"Ello John, Got a new motor uh uh uh uh uh" Takes some beating!
-
'Cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake' - Rihanna
-
I think practically anything by Benny Hill falls neatly into this category especially Ernie the milkman!
-
I think practically anything by Benny Hill falls neatly into this category especially Ernie the milkman!
NO. ACTUAL. WAY. :o I literally opened this post just so I could make a comment about that song! That's so weird! Well, now you've done it for me I'll have to think of another one
'Cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake' - Rihanna
That's inspiration right there. No wonder my generation is so messed up... ;D
-
I think practically anything by Benny Hill falls neatly into this category especially Ernie the milkman!
I liked Ernie , it's a classic , reminds me of my childhood. It is comedy after all :D
-
Have you heard the better re-make of that Rihanna song?
'Bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon bacon'
-
New personal favourite.
Bruno Mars.
"It's getting freaky in this room room room
Now let me hear you say you want that boom boom boom
We can take it slow, we can zoom zoom zoom"
UGHHHH I HATEEEEE THEM THEYRE SOOO CRINGEY!
Zoom should NEVER be used in a song.
Bruno I love you but please no
-
I actually love Lilly Allen and her new song Air Balloon but I love these lines so much simply because they are absurd and so 'outside the box' that they work:
Somebody remind me where I am
Miami or Timbuktu?
Did I ever tell you my uncle's monkey ran away from the zoo?
Another verse from Whenever Wherever by Shakira - and I LOVE both song and artist btw- that falls into the same category is:
Lucky that my lips not only mumble
They spill kisses like a fountain
Lucky that my breasts are small and humble
So you don't confuse them with mountains
Lucky I have strong legs like my mother
To run for cover when I need it
-
hey this is from a massive song PHARRELL WILLIAMS
first line ( WHAT ) A ROOM WITHOUT A ROOF, ROOMS DON'T HAVE A ROOF
can any one explain it to me, we're to hard on each other IMO
[Hook:]
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you know what happiness is to you
Because I’m happy
Clap along if you feel like that’s what you wanna do
-
Benjo I LOVE THAT SONG
Isn't it implying 'raising the roof' like if something's amazing you'd say "wow they raised the roof" so you're saying clap along if you feel amazing. Or I guess you could also say you're feeling free because roofs/ceilings are restricting so getting rid of them is like FREEDOM?
I think the more important question is how come Pharrell never ages...
-
ha ha ha
because that's such a sensible answer i'll accept it as LAW
I actually like the song it is a bit rep though
thanking you, great thread BTW
-
This thread is a hoot!
My favourite worst:
"Ziggy Played Guitar" - boy that tagline really pulled me in - NOT!
-
One thing I never understood was, in the few lines of/before the chorus in we built this city, that line that's basically just a collection of mumbled words that sounds like "Mark Owen plays mabamba, listen to the radio". Therefore today I googled the lyrics, and you can't imagine my disappointment when I found out they were actually "Marconi plays the mamba." No Mark Owen here :'(
-
Following on Jess's last one, not only a lyric that was not particularly clever, but also fairly often misheard:
Eiffel 65
I'm Blue, Daba dee daba die
or is it: If I were green I would die
or: I'm in need of a guy
or various other variations that I've heard (I just peed and I died?!)
the song was pretty catchy though....like cholera...
-
'If the light's off, then it isn't on' - Hillary Duff
-
'If the light's off, then it isn't on' - Hillary Duff
Intelligence at its prime
-
Living next door to Alice. by Smokie.
"Twenty-four years just waiting for a chance,
To tell her how I feel, and maybe get a second glance"
Waited 24 years waiting for a chance?
maybe get a second glance???
She lived next door!!!!
He has seen her once in 24 years??
-
'Hoilibheag hilibheag hó ail il ó' - Smeòrach Clann Dòmnaill (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_eYEmuc0hM)
That's got to be the catchiest hook I've ever come across and it's actually slightly creepy. Seriously, listen to the song and you'll see what I mean. It makes you want to sway your head like you're on a boat.
Oh, and the hook means literally nothing before people start wondering :P
-
I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles
Now I love this song, BUT
'Well she was just seventeen, you know what I mean'
Sounds ever so slightly creepy in my opinion...
-
Lady gaga songs
-
'Raising the stakes in this shotgun roulette' - Runrig, Every River
-
Lady gaga songs
LOVE Gaga, that woman has a vision for everything she creates and I will forever admire her for that
-
Anything written by Jon Anderson. I remember an interview where he described his lyrics as strawberry bricks, c'mon ::)
Jamie
-
Anything written by Jon Anderson. I remember an interview where he described his lyrics as strawberry bricks, c'mon ::)
Jamie
-
The lyrics to 'B**** Suck D***' by Tyler the Creator are pretty bad... but also kinda genius.
The lyrics to 'I Eat Dinner' by Rufus Wainwright sound pretty awful when you read them alone...
I eat dinner at the kitchen table
By the light that switches on
I eat leftovers with mashed potatoes
No more candlelight
No more romance
No more small-talk
When the hunger's gone
I eat dinner at the kitchen table
And I wash it down with pie
I eat leftovers with mashed potatoes
No more candlelight
No more romance
No more small-talk
When the hunger stops
-
Come on, anyone calling themselves 'the Creator' is pretty low-hanging fruit when it comes to lyrical quality ;)
-
I could post the whole of 'I know what i like in your wardrode' by Genesis but
"Me, I'm just a lawnmower you can tell me by the way I walk."
what the hell were they on?
GTB